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Clone Wars Looks Great, Except For The Humans

Lucas Films has released the trailer for Star Wars: Clone Wars in all its shiny, CGI glory. Everything mechanical and alien is quite sharp. The B1 battle droids look just as CGI crisp as they always have, but this time they actually blend with the surroundings. And the computer animation agrees with orange Jedi Padawan Ashoka Tano as well as with the green Nautolan. But as for the actual human beings, they stick out like a sore thumb. Update: We now have the full trailer.

Anakin is a completely different person, and Count Dooku's beard looks ridiculous. Also, none of the human voices seem to match their characters. So the new look for the Jedi's definitely lives up to the promise that this is a, 'Star Wars Like You've Never Seen It Before.' But with many of the characters being of a different species, like the baldy butt kicking Asajj Ventress, it works.

11:40 AM on Fri May 9 2008
By Meredith Woerner
8,810 views
54 comments

Comments

  • Hey that looks like a great video game... ;-)

  • Image of moff moff at 11:47 AM on 05/09/08 *

    I like how it says "Except for the Humans," but then right beneath that is the scariest fucking picture of Yoda ever.

  • Eh, I like the new look, especially on Doku. As for Anaken being a completely different person - you say that as though it were a bad thing. ;D

  • Isn't the look supposed to be inspired by the Thunderbirds puppets? The humans look a little better if you take that into account.

    I have very little interest in Clone Wars myself, but my son is really looking forward to it.

  • This looks a lot more like a video game trailer than a movie trailer.

  • @moff: "Except for anything organic"

    Droids, Clone troopers, ships all get excellent treatment, if it grows (and isn't covered with metal/plastic is sucks...

    I have been complaining about this aspect of the project from the first pics/trailers...

    They suggest that it is a computer generated-based on the Clone Wars animated, but there everything had the animated/cartoon stylized look.. not just the 'organics" and it makes it look stupid..

  • Yoda's dialogue gets expotentially annoying installment after installment.

  • Uh... I meant exponentially.

  • I used to think that the style for Samurai Jack was terrible, too, until I realized that the style fit what they were going for.

    I think I can take that humans have a distinct look of their own compared to even the humanoid aliens.

    So I'll wait and see. Considering I wasn't even remotely interested in this before the trailer, it's a good sign to me.

  • George couldn't make it work as a live action, maybe he can do it as a cartoon. All be it a really fancy cartoon.

  • No, the style for Samurai Jack was terrible, full stop. It, and the Clone Wars cartoon, always came across to me as cheap website Flash posing as animated features. Rendering a style that looked awful in 2D into 3D isn't improving things any.

    YMMV, of course. :)

  • Let's hope it's not like the unwatchable Clone Wars animated series.

    Yoda, "there is a battle on this planet"
    pew pew pew!

    Yoda, "now go to this planet"
    pew pew pew!

    During which you watch clone troopers silently use hand signals while blatantly walking down the middle of the street as if directed by Gus Vant Sant.

  • I rather liked the Clone Wars cartoon, not to mention Samurai Jack - in no small part due to the unique visual style.

    Everybody's different I guess.

  • Looks awesome. I realized what it is!!! Team Fortress Star Wars!

    But seriously people, this is gonna be a TV show, so stylizing it will help the production look better in the end. If it looked way more realistic the battles and scope would probably suffer because they'd be worrying so much about the little details in the character rendering. Heavy Design helps animation its why lower frame rate anime looks better than things like the American Avengers cartoon movie.

  • Does anyone else have the same conceptual problem with this series, that I do? We know how the clone wars end already.

    Sure maybe they save Jabba' kid (Stavros Hutt?) So what? In the end the Jedi all get slaughtered. We already know Anakin turns to the darkside and appears on Deal or No Deal

    Doesn't that make all this pointless?

  • "Also, none of the human voices seem to match their characters."

    I seem to remember they are using the same voice-over actors as they did for the original Clone-Wars seasons on CN. And, no, they sound nothing like their live-action versions. I remember they used those voices in the EPIII console game as well, it was especially evident how far off the voices were when you'd have a cinematic cut-scene from the movie with the real actors, then go into gameplay with the voice-over actors. Night and day difference when you hear them back to back like that.

    And, yes, the Yoda voice-over gets realllllly old realllllly fast.

  • I think the new look is fantastic - by the way, Jabba the Hutt is much improved, now quite badass. He looks like he has plating. I wonder if the fabled Jedi Hutt will make it into the series...

  • I wonder if Gendy Tartakovsky will be getting a credit for the series, seeing as they appear to be lifting his character designs from the animated shorts whole cloth.

    Eh, maybe I'm just bitter that he hasn't seemed to produce anything for awhile. Oh, Dexter's Lab, how we miss thee :(

  • "Everything mechanical and alien is quite sharp." ... "But as for the actual human beings, they stick out like a sore thumb."

    So... Just like every Star Wars movie before it?

  • @hopskipper: sooo, you liked the movies for their dialogue?

  • Image of moff moff at 01:12 PM on 05/09/08 *

    @exlawyer: Yes. But at the same time, I wouldn't be very excited if he announced that he was going to do Episodes VII-IX or a project from another era of the mythos, either. I just now realized that, beyond the six films and the two Ewok movies, I just do not care about Star Wars. And I never have. I thought the Thrawn books were pretty good, and I've delved a little bit more than that into the Expanded Universe, but if all of the brain cells containing those memories were taken from me, it would matter not a whit to my well-being.

    I mean: We get it, George. Good defeats evil. Magic DNA that gives you psychic powers. Blasters. A fantasy for the kid inside every grown-up. Whatever.

    @Qev: I always thought the animation in Jack was gorgeous! Reminiscent of medieval Japanese art but allowing for the total fluidity a great action cartoon needed. They did some brilliant stuff, too -- like the ninja episode with the white and black?

  • @exlawyer: Yes, you know how it all ends, but that doesn't mean there can't be good stories locked in there before everything goes boom. With that same reasoning you could have said that before they made the prequels, and while yes, they didn't turn out very well, it wasn't because you knew what was going to happen, it was because the writing and acting were terrible. Hopefully Lucas isn't writing all of the Clone Wars and luckily there won't be real actors. I think it'll be a fun movie and series, nothing ground breaking, just some cool entertainment.

  • Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame. Lame.

  • @moff:
    Total agreement RE: Jack and Ninja episode.

  • this one was just for my own lunchtime curiosity/boredom, but felt I would share.

    [picasaweb.google.com]

  • What do you want from the technology, that is nothing else except production-convenient.

  • I don't know if it's supposed to be, but that's definitely not the same trailer I saw on CNN last night. Almost identical, but there are several pretty noticeable differences, especially the text blurbs in the middle (which were totally absent in the CNN version).

  • gotta agree with the organic criticism. its almost like looking at a 'Antz' version of star wars= not good.

    hopeing it doesn't turn out to be lame, thats all, really

  • fuck it. I'm excited. I know I'm in the minority, but whatever.

  • I'm looking forward to it. Star Wars has had me in thrall since '77. I'll be there with the popcorn and a cold beer.

  • @DeepFriar: haha, touche. At least the original movies had a plot.

  • @exlawyer: Same thing was true of Episode 3, but it was still bad-ass (Eps 1 & 2 not so much).

    Regarding the animation style, I like that they're keeping the same look throughout the Clone Wars cartoons (and carrying it into the new TV series).

  • Mmmm... Ashoka is smokin' hot! Too bad she's pixels only...

    I, too, really liked Samurai Jack, and thought it was at times extremely clever.

  • @Scorpi: Jedi Hutt:

    You know what? There are just too many jokes.

  • @johnnyichiban: Since I didn't give a frak about the characters in the last three movies, I don't care whether they look the same or not. That CGI doesn't look quite human is an old saw. And as Lucas isn't directing this one, there's a good chance it will tell a story to match the look.

  • Since I didn't give a frak about the characters in the last three movies, I don't care whether they look the same or not. That CGI doesn't look quite human is an old saw. And as Lucas isn't directing this one, there's a good chance it will tell a story to match the look

  • They're from a galaxy far, far away. How could anyone there be human? They only cast human actors in the previous movies to save money, this is closer to what the characters REALLY look like.
    This rationale should help you enjoy the movie. Glad I could help.

  • You can watch the larger HD version of the trailer here on Starwars.com:

    [www.starwars.com]

  • @russdanger: Unless, of course, the Star Wars galaxy is our galaxy in the far distant future, and is simply told as 'once upon a time' tale. Then they ARE humans, more or less, just future-humans.

    Another theory of my own making is that in reality, all the the aliens (and alien life-forms) are descendants of humans and other Earth-based life forms that somehow got separated from each other and thus evolved into what exists now in the Star Wars galaxy. Of course, this would make the whole story a whole lot older than originally thought...

  • So... a retread of a retread? I'd be interested if they did more than stick the Clone Wars cartoon in bad CG. As it stands, I'll wait until Lucas gets desperate enough for money to make another trilogy.

  • They style of the original series, which was carried over to this series, was something that drew me to watch in the first place. Angular characters? So what! If the story is good, that should be all that matters.

  • @Shyguy: If the story is good, that should be all that matters.

    Yep, but we are talking about a mid-prequal of Star Wars:Clone Wars part II.

    So we had better check the characters for angles..

  • @jbq: Sorry, but are you talking about the little orange alien who looks like a 12 year old girl? Is that thing "smokin' hot"? You need to reevaluate your hotness scale in light of statutory rape laws.

  • Looks good to me. I don't know why people are complaining about the way the humans look. Can you name me one CGI cartoon that had realistic-looking humans? You can probably count them on one hand, if at all. It's far better to stylize them, than to try to make them "realistic," which will only result in Polar Express... In Space!

    Also, I love the Samurai Jack / Clone Wars art styles. Quite brilliantly done.

  • [www.onedigitallife.com]

    @Sharpless: I can name one...
    The final fantasy CGI movie had better looking people (they did a shitty job on the hands, but the faces were better)

    Go watch a clip for that and tell me the Star Wars one is better...

    No they don't have the stylistic look of the Gendy Clone Wars, BUT neither does anything other than the people/aliens in this..

    In the original Gendy Clone Wars EVERYTHING had that look, the clone troopers, the ships, everything...

    Now they just ripped the look for the people because I guess they throught the realistic look that everything else has in the movie was too hard for humans.

    Watch the clip again. The troopers, droids and ships all have gradation, dust, etc etc.. then the people look like crappy knock off of Gendy's work.
    (and not as good as Gendy's original designs, the trimmed detail)

  • Pretty damn awesome.

  • God, this looks like crap. Complete and utter crap. I'll watch it on cable in a year.

  • It'd be nice if Lucas left this period alone and worked on something else, past or future.

  • @Bob_of_Mars:

    Very Ape-Descendant-Centric theory. The Dolphins think that sort of thing is hilarious. Ask one sometime...